It was a landslide. Barack Obama crushed John McCain.
But, you're going to have to contend with countless hacks, pundits, and others repeat the lie that it wasn't a landslide because the popular vote margin was 52.3 - 46.2.
We had to listen to Mika B. continue her constant apologizing (does she have any other setting?) when she proclaimed the other day, "Let's get one thing clear, this was not a landslide." She joins the esteemed company of Sean Hannity who has a forum on his site explaining why 3.6% margin (um, it's 6.1%) isn't a landslide.
Um, yes it was. So let's explain why very simply so that you can tell your friends, family, local papers, or anyone else who pretends that this wasn't a landslide:
The president is voted on by electoral college.
The race is run with the goal of winning the electoral college.
If the race were determined by popular vote, Obama would have spent more time in CA, NYC, and his home state of Illinois running up the score.
But that's not how we elect presidents.
Therefore each campaign ran multiple different campaigns on a state-by-state level with the goal of winning the electoral college.
On that score, Obama's total of 365 to McCain's 173 is literally more than twice as great. That's a landslide. If someone beats you by a score of more than 2 to 1, they crushed you. If a football game's final score is 42 to 20, it's a rout.
Since the race for the White House was not based on popular vote and not run with that in mind by EITHER campaign, you cannot use it as a measure for whether or not this was a landslide.
There is only an electoral college.
It was a landslide.
It's really very simple.
Back to your regularly scheduled programming.